On Monday, October 29, 2018, Lion Air Flight 610 crashed shortly after takeoff from Jakarta, Indonesia killing all 189 passengers and crew onboard. The plane was a new Boeing 737 MAX 8 that had been delivered to the Indonesian carrier less than three months prior to the crash. Lion Air Flight 610 was a scheduled domestic flight from Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta, the Indonesian capital, to Depati Amir Airport in Pangkal Pinang.

The pilots reportedly experienced trouble almost immediately after takeoff. Although they did not declare an emergency, they did radio air traffic control a few minutes after takeoff to request a return to Soekarno–Hatta International Airport. Several minutes later, the flight disappeared from the air traffic control’s radar coverage. Workers on a nearby oil platform in the Java Sea witnessed the plane plunging into the water with a steep nose-down angle.

Preliminary information released by Indonesian investigators obtained from the aircraft’s flight data recorder reveals that the nose of the Boeing 737 MAX 8 was forced down over two dozen times during the 11-minute flight by the plane’s automatic Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, or MCAS, a new and enhanced automated safety system that works in conjunction with two angle of attack sensors located on the nose of the aircraft. These sensors measure airspeed and the angle of the aircraft in relation to air that comes across it so as to prevent an aerodynamic stall. When these sensors indicate that the angle of attack is too high, they transmit information to the MCAS which responds by causing the forward edge stabilizers located on the aircraft’s tail to push up forcing the nose of the plane down.

Days after the crash, the Federal Aviation Administration issued an Emergency Airworthiness Directive cautioning that if an erroneously high angle of attack input is received by the aircraft’s flight control system, a flight crew would have difficulty controlling the plane which could lead to an excessive nose down attitude, significant altitude loss and possible impact with terrain. This emergency AD identified a series of rapid and complicated procedures that a flight crew must follow in order to regain control of the 737 MAX 8. That same day, Boeing issued an Operations Manual Bulletin directing flight crews to follow existing guidelines for the appropriate response to the receipt of erroneous angle of attack data. Several airlines and pilot unions responded with public statements criticizing Boeing for not specifically disclosing information about how to disengage this enhanced safety feature on the 737 MAX 8 aircraft, or provide specific training on how to disengage the system.

Also of significance to the investigation are reports from the flight crew that operated the same aircraft on the immediately preceding flight that they too had experienced problems with the angle of attack sensors shortly after takeoff which forced them to send an urgent message to air traffic control. This particular flight crew was able to correct the inaccurate air speed readings and continue their flight. Indonesian investigators have also disclosed that this same aircraft experienced similar inaccurate airspeed indications during four other flights, and maintenance personnel at the airline had replaced one of the angle of attack sensors with another, previously used, sensor. There are significant questions as to whether Lion Air should have left this aircraft in passenger operations or grounded it to address the source of the inaccurate readings. Lion Air, established in 1999, is a low cost budget carrier and Indonesia’s largest airline operating more than 100 aircraft. The carrier was banned from operations in U.S. and European airspace from 2007 to 2016 due to safety concerns about Indonesia’s aviation system which has seen more than 40 fatal air disasters over the last 15 years.

To date, the Boeing 737 Max 8’s cockpit voice recorder has not been recovered. Data from this recorder could reveal whether the flight crew followed appropriate procedures to regain control of the aircraft.

The team at Baumeister & Samuels continues to monitor developments into the investigation into the crash of Lion Air Flight 610.

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Southwest Airlines Flight 1380 Catastrophic Engine Failure

Southwest Airlines Flight 1380, a scheduled flight from New York's LaGuardia Airport to Dallas, Texas suffered a catastrophic engine failure on the morning of Tuesday, April 17th. The National Transportation Safety Board's ("NTSB") preliminary investigation, led by Investigator Bill English, revealed that the airplane's left engine suffered a turbofan blade failure, which severely damaged the engine, the leading edge of the wing and then penetrated the fuselage and a cabin window. Both the Flight Data Recorder and Cockpit Voice Recorder from Southwest Airlines flight have been sent to NTSB headquarters in Washington, DC for download and analysis, and the debris which fell from the aircraft, including the engine cowling, has also been located and retrieved. The NTSB will provide periodic updates on their investigation.

Tragically, Jennifer Riordan, a passenger seated near the damaged cabin window, lost her life. Attorney Mitch Baumeister spoke with Newsweek regarding passengers' rights and the filing of potential lawsuits. Read more.